Broker tips: Weir, Lloyds, SABMiller, Babcock

Canaccord Genuity has retained its 'buy' recommendation for engineer Weir Group on the back of a possible merger with Finnish peer Metso, saying that "this deal has the potential to be very exciting"."Our first thoughts are on a strategic basis, a deal would make considerable sense with scope for substantial synergies, but it would also need a substantial equity element to get the deal done whether it be through a merger or a rights issue to fund the transaction," said Canaccord analysts Harry Phillips and Rob Ellis.The recent weakness in Lloyds' shares has prompted Numis Securities to upgrade its rating on the stock to 'buy'.Numis pointed out that the bank's share price performance has been particularly weak since the government's share sale on March 26th and the stock now provides 30% upside to its 97p target price. "We upgrade to buy' (from 'add') and highlight Lloyds Banking Group in our UK monthly 'top-picks' published today," said Analyst Mike Trippitt.Fourth-quarter trading at beverages giant SABMiller could be "challenging", according to Credit Suisse, which retained its 'neutral' rating on the stock on Tuesday morning. The bank said it has kept a "cautious short-term stance" on the shares with a target price of 3,100p."Whilst longer term we still expect SABMiller to outperform peers, in the immediate future we expect a deceleration in organic revenue growth to circa 3% in the fourth quarter (from 4% year-to-date and circa 7% over the past decade), which we believe could disappoint, particularly considering the stock's recent re-rating back to its circa 10% premium valuation versus its consumer staples peers," Credit Suisse said.Panmure Gordon has raised its recommendation for engineering group Babcock from 'hold' to 'buy' after the recent acquisition of Avincis and a potential nuclear decommissioning project. The broker has hiked its target price from 1,350p to 1,525p."While the current valuation is at the upper end of its historic trading range, we believe Babcock is in a strong position to outperform our forecast assumptions given its enhanced margin structure and improving levels of visibility in a number of different areas," Panmure said.BC